Missing pieces

I started making jewelry back in the day when I had a lot of time on my hands, waiting on teenaged daughters to get home from dates. Couldn't sleep anyway, so why not make something. Crocheting and knitting was out -- yarn makes me itch. Tried painting, I don't have enough perspective so everything looks flat. Id' already torn my house apart and renovated it, so nothing new there. Woodworking was out -- way too much dust.

I've always been keenly aware of jewelry that women wear. While my tastes tend to be conservative, I love the bling. So I started making jewelry. Every time I traveled, I would try to find bead shops. People would ask me to make their wedding jewelry, and excitedly, I would. Over the years, I've bought tools and beads galore and made jewelry. People would buy what I made, what I didn't sell, I'd stick in a drawer, and sooner or later someone would need a quick gift, and viola! Perfect.

This has been going on for a few years, until about a year ago I found myself buying more and more crystals, beads, and components, always meaning to design something new. Invariably, I would get started on a design and discover, dang it, that I didn't have the right size something, so back to ETSY or Fusionbead or wherever to get what I need, get inspired by something, and buy even more to make, and the cycle would start all over.

Well, recently, I figured I definitely didn't need to buy anything else until 1) I beefed up my inventory and 2) sold something. In one of those many trips to Fusionbead, I saw a pair of earrings that I thought would be perfect for my girlfriends who ride Harleys, either riding it themselves or on the back of their SO. Much to my surprise, everyone loved them! GREAT! Except... yep, didn't have enough components. So back I went...

The earrings are great, but they're kinda simple to make. They are expensive because of the components and crystals, but they don't take much talent to put them together if you have all the right tools. So I started yearning for some custom work, to work on a new design.

One day, while selling those expensive earrings to a young cousin for her biker mom, she lamented she couldn't afford my jewelry because it was expensive. Now don't get all pissy with me, I did give her the F&F discount on her Mom's earrings, but even so, they are expensive for a young woman to buy in multiples. So I mentioned the reason they were expensive: they were either sterling silver or pewter, neither of which are cheap right now, and throw in the crystals, and they end up being pretty expensive when you add in labor and shipping. So I offered to make her some non-sterling silver/pewter earrings.

So excitedly, I started going through my inventory of beads and components and developed a design that I think she will like. I started threading crystals onto headpins and starting the loops, and when I had just about finished wrapping about 20 crystals, thought "let me put this together to see if it looks good!" So I start stringing the wrapped headpins onto the chandelier and found... DANG IT! The headpins were too thick to put more than 1 crystal per loop. No, no, no! My design calls for lots of dangly crystals! Then I remembered some of those headpins were much easier to bend than others, and discover... there were thin 1" headpins mixed in with thicker ones... and the thinner ones work in multiples in the loops... but I only have 4 thin headpins... sigh.

I guess I'm going to Hobby Lobby tomorrow. Ashley's earrings will languish yet another day.

Raised Confused

To me, as whatever I am — I was raised by a fundamentalist Pentacostal mother and an agnostic father, so if asked what faith I was raised in, I just say “confused” — COEXIST is exactly what I believe in.

To me, if you believe in a higher power, whom I call God, if you strive to follow his tenets (or doctrines, although to me, that has a negative tone), if you believe in and try to act as Christ did (or Buddha or Mohammad or whomever), if you discard the stuff that man put into HIS words (women are to submit and not lead in the church for our bible, and kill the infidels if they don’t convert in the Koran), all of whom say, at their basic level — love one another and spread the good news by your actions and love, then who am I to say that your faith is wrong?

It is my basic problem with fundamentalists in both Christianity and Muslim faith. Why is it all or nothing? Even Christ said to follow the prophets’ teachings, even when he said to follow him, that he was the truth and the light.

Sometimes I feel cursed by my upbringing. Sometimes I wish I could just blindly follow the protestant faith, but I get hung up on that this is the only way to go, and that all others are doomed to the alternative to heaven.

My God is an awesome, loving God. That I know. I believe that Jesus Christ is my lord and savior, he is the son of God, and that he was crucified for my sins, and raised from the dead. I try mightily to follow his teachings, to do what Jesus would do. This I know in my heart to be the truth and the light, the path I am to follow.

But do I disagree with some of the Buddhist tenets? No, in fact, I find the Dalai Lama to be a wise man, and although I disagree with his pacifist view, I find his teachings to be enlightened… but I am not a Buddhist.

I know a lot of Muslims who do not believe that I’m an infidel and that I need to be beheaded. I have had interesting (although at times tense) conversations with them about world affairs. Once they realize I’m not going to turn them in as a Muslim radical or try to convert them to Christianity, we have very interesting conversations about our faith… but I’m not interested in converting to Islam.

I also have friends who are Hindu, and we have interesting discussions, too, although I get confused about all the different gods, customs, and tenets they have. But then again, I get confused with all the saints and customs of the Catholic, too — especially when they start talking about the stations of the rosary… wha?!?

The only ones I have disagreements with are atheists, but maybe it's because the ones I've met seem so angry that others have faith. But maybe that is only the people I know, maybe others are okay with OPF (other people's faith - LOL). In my darkest times, when I thought God had abandoned me, I flirted with atheism, but luckily, I was covered by God's grace, and came to understand that while I was searching in the wilderness, he was there, watching my back. He never left me, I just was looking in the wrong places.

But I digress… look, if Billy Graham met with the leaders of the world’s religions, then I think we should. If Jesus Christ, at a tender age, went among the Jewish rabbis to discuss the Bible, and he diverted from that to build Christianity, then why should we dismiss others’ prophets and beliefs that diverted from ours (specifically Islam, which diverted AT ABRAHAM!!!)?

But do I believe all these people, these friends, are going to hell if they do not convert to Christianity? No, I do not. This is where I divert and everyone wants to label me as a Universalist or Humanist… but I’m not that either.

What I believe is that my God, who I worship and adore, in his grace, looks at people of faith in this fashion: do you believe in me, no matter what my name is? Do you live your life as I have taught you, no matter what name you give my son(s)? Does your love shine through to people you meet everyday? Do you do the good works I tell you to do?

Then I love you, no matter what your religion is, and I have a place for you in my kingdom.

So, yes, I want the COEXIST sticker on my bumper (actually, I hate bumper stickers, but I keep searching for the COEXIST cling for my window... sorry, digressing again). I love them all, I will do my good works to whomever without whether they belong to my faith or not, and I hope, by God’s love shining through me, that they become interested in my faith. But if not, then it is in God’s hands — not mine. Coexist. I will not wreck a crusade upon you to convert you to my faith. I will not harm you or your family by disparaging YOUR faith to convert you forcefully to MY faith.

Coexist, and may God bless you and keep you.

illegal aliens and cryin' indians

So, my daughter posted a cartoon up on her Facebook today that made me react to it in a couple of ways. It's funny how you will react to a cartoon. It is important to gauge your initial reaction, because that is what the political cartoonist is trying to do, evoke a reaction. My initial reaction was, Ha -- he should have made the American Indian the "Crying Indian" from the '70's Ad Council commercials. Here's one of the best ones, but they all end in the Amerind crying.



Beyond your initial gut reaction, try to see if there is anything else going on. Look at the cartoon again... there was this deep tickle in my brain. Why did I think I had heard this before? I knew that there was an immigration bill being worked on, but the gut reaction (as lampooned in the carton) was that the Tea Party was viscerally against the bill. One of my uncles sent an email that basically said the same thing as the guy in the cartoon. Being one of a few middle-of-the-roaders in our vast family, I get a lot of emails from both sides. And phone calls. My Dad, God love him, is pestering me to watch Glenn Beck. I just tell him I don't want the brain aneurysm that will come within 15 minutes of watching Glenn OR Keith Olbermann. I grow tired of reading that this is a "Socialist Regime" and that this President doesn't know how to govern because he was just a "community organizer" in the "Chicago Mafiaoso." At least once a week, I get at least one forwarded email sent from at least 3 uncles. I finally sent a message to a dearly loved (even though I disagree with him) uncle saying I was done, because it took me more time to research the truth than reading his emails. Of course, the email I sent was debunking another one of the forwarded (thrice) emails, and I got no response back. I couldn't make this stuff up if I tried.

ANYWAY, back to the political cartoon. So when I saw the cartoon, I was still processing an earlier fwd'd email. So my secondary reaction to the cartoon was I think they "doth protest too much, methinks" (to use Shakespeare's line). Or was it that someone had said something about pardoning illegals during my daily read through blogs? So I researched it (duh). Go ahead, google "Immigration Reform and Control Act" -- I'll spare you all the time I was researching this so that you can cut to the chase. This bill, signed into law in 1986 by... RONALD REAGAN. In this law, which gave us the lovely I-9 that every new employee must have 2 sets of ID to prove that they are a legal US citizen, it also pardoned any illegal aliens that had lived continuously in the United States since 1/1/82. Let me repeat: the Demigod Republican President Reagan pardoned * illegal aliens* that had worked continuously in the US since 1/1/82. I don't think you'll hear that on Fox News.

Of course, there was a process that had to be undertaken to allow the illegals to become registered legal immigrants. As this 2006 article for the Washington Post by the original authors of the bill, describes it as a 3 legged stool that never could stand on it's third leg: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/09/14/AR2006091401179.html. Of course, they were talking about a bill that was still in the works in 2006, and it never made it to Dubya to sign.... OH, that's right: another Republican President tried to guide another immigration bill through. Again I save you the research (but you can always google "George W. Bush +immigration), and send you to http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSN2742643820070629.

So obviously, the paradox of again folks beating down a bill before it even gets a chance to get to signature obviously makes the conservatives happy. So again, we sit here 24 years later, with no true immigration bill that makes anyone happy. And we need one. So where do I stand on illegal immigrants? I don't think it is fair for us to ration out immigration to the rest of the world while our southern neighbors send workers over our porous borders.

Shocked? Well, wait for it... back in 1994, my now ex-husband had a landscaping business. He watched other landscaping businesses beat his bids on new lawns while their trucks drove by with a passel of Mexicans in the back. One of his builders told him, when he asked how is it that they could bid so low, "you need to get you some Mexicans." My ex was a pretty good joe, even if we did end up divorced, and we talked about what to do over and over again. The problem was we couldn't get good employees to do the menial work of throwing sod and sifting pine bales. It's hard, dirty work and you really have to enjoy making a mud pit beautiful. Very few self-respecting white or black men wanted the jobs. We paid for ad after ad in the AJC and local papers. We visited labor pools. If we got someone to work, most likely they were passed out after lunch or begging to be let go. So, one day, when my ex had won a bid, he discovered that he had no workers to install the lawn and bushes. So he approached a builder who had Mexicans framing up a house and asked if he knew of any Mexicans looking for work. He was provided with a phone number of a Mexican who spoke English pretty well, and the next day, two earnest young men was dropped off a pickup truck at the job site. Miguel and his cousin Manuel worked circles around my ex and his one hired hand (a project manager). My ex tried to do the right thing by asking for SSN and driver licenses, but nobody seemed to understand what he needed. When he explained it to his contact, then we were given a SSN and a drivers license with one of the guys' names on it. Didn't quite look like Miguel in the picture, but we had what we needed to pay SSN and payroll taxes. Manuel we let go because he couldn't provide the information. Somewhere a Mexican legal immigrant has a SSN account that is probably bulging. One day, the INS showed up on the job site and took our Mexican away, along with dozens of others. Mexicans were scarce after that, and we went back to newspaper ads and labor pools, but my ex's business never recovered. His business went bankrupt, he had to let go his one project manager, and he went back to work.

So... what do you think? There are hundreds, if not thousands, of American companies who knowingly employ illegal aliens because they can provide a SSN and Drivers License that are not legitimate. The 1986 law did not have the clause that put verification onto the shoulders of the company employing the aliens (which is why we didn't have to verify that the SSN and DL was legit, nor did anyone else). The problem is not the illegal immigrants. It is that there is a source of labor jobs that no American seems to want to do: dangerous, filthy, dirty jobs that most white and black people do not want to do, and these wretched heaving masses of humanity would give up their life for a chance to do it.

If the current immigration bill would have the teeth that caused companies to have to actually verify the employ-ability of a candidate before the first pay check is issued, this would be a short discussion. Verifying could be as simple as a photo being taken of the SSN holder, with pertinent data like sex, age, and last known city/state, that an employer (or more likely a contractor) could query the SSN and up pops the pertinent data and picture. Easily verifiable. Heck, use the customer service/contact center software that is already out there -- this is do-able, use the technology that large firms already use to identify their customers. Just use it for the federal government agencies that employers have to deal with anyway.

We will never solve the problem of illegal aliens unless we go after the companies that use them, or we come up with a way to make it easier for the companies to hire their allotment of temporary workers, and ship them back when they are done... unless there is another company who can't find workers to do the dirty, dangerous jobs. I think any bonafide company who can show the feds that they have tried to fill their positions with verifiable Americans should be allowed to hire temporary immigrant workers. All they have to do is show that they have tried and failed for a period of time.

Some will scream that it still doesn't fix the problem of the illegals flooding over the border. No, but it sure cuts down on the open spigot of jobs that they fill.

An interesting discussion with a college student regarding healthcare

B is a friend of the family who I've known for about 4 years now. He is an intelligent young man, and I enjoy discussing current events with him. Below is a discussion regarding healthcare that spilled over from a facebook post talking about the people I knew that didn't have healthcare and were sick and scared. Maybe you will find it interesting, too...

Everything fronted by a S: is in my humble opinion, based on the research cited below and personal beliefs. I in no way consider myself a PoliSci expert!

S: You know, I really appreciate you talking with me like this. It is refreshing not to get bashed for being more liberal -- thank you. Dad would enjoy discussing politics with you, although he is pretty far right and likes to "argue" versus debate. OK, let me respond point-by-point:

B: You say that it makes no sense to you that we are the only industrialized country without univeral healthcare. Here are some reasons why it makes sense to me-

S: I’ve done some more researching since we talked, and have found that actually, we’re not the only industrialized country – we have company – Turkey, India and Mexico don’t have universal coverage. Of the technical industrialized nations, we’re the only one. See http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/2009/sep/15/howard-dean/dean-says-us-only-democracy-without-universal-heal/.

B: 1. I can't think of one U.S. government agency that runs effectively and efficiently. I have little hope that the government can also take on 20% of our economy and not turn it into a money black hole.

S: I understand your concern, but there are some federal agencies that DO work that I have personal experience with: The US Forest Service, which is a self-sufficient agency due to their parks and foresting trees to sell. The Corps of Engineers is semi-self-efficient in that they also manage parks and their dams generate energy they sell, but what they "do" (creating watersheds, developing dams, etc.) are generally for the public good. They were slammed regarding Katrina, but as Dad noted, they had presented plans to Congress to fix the problem, but neither Congress nor the State of Louisiana funded the plan. I know that when I worked for them, there were many plans to fix problems that were not funded, so I’m not surprised that some of their areas were shown not effective in the ExpectMore.org site http://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/expectmore/index.html.

Having said that, I don’t agree that 80% of the agencies are effective. I don’t buy that an agency is effective as long as they are “adequate.” I think, as the website’s URL states, we should expect more. A grade of C may be adequate, but if someone is spending my money, I want to see something better than a C grade. The vast amount of agencies, though, are not working, but if you study why it is because they are not fully funded. For instance, the USDA, which governs our food supply, doesn't have enough funding for the inspectors that we need. Self-governance by corporations is laughable and dangerous.

The Corps of Engineers can’t forestall the disaster they foresee unless they get funding to stop it.There actually have been some statistical surveys done that rate how the federal employee feels whether their agency is effective. I have found in my 35 years of working that the employees’ attitudes about their employer pretty much reflect how well the company/agency is run. Unless they are all idiots like utility employees (monopolies breed stagnant employees, I found).

In any case, this link discusses the OMB’s survey and ranking by agency: http://www.themonkeycage.org/2009/03/post_177.html/ One thing the government has done VERY well is their own federal health insurance plans. I was wrong when I said that the judicial, legislative, and executive branches didn't pay for their own insurance -- they do, as federal employees, have the same options (and payments) as the rest of the federal employees. Dad clued me in on that, and Politifact does the research: http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/2009/aug/11/barack-obama/obama-gets-right-federal-health-care-benefits/

B: 2. Competition brings ingenuity, lower prices, and more effective care. The system we have now simply is not competitive which is why costs are so high. If we create a public option where we have a program that can continually lose billions of dollars though government spending how will other health care companies compete?

S: The current insurance companies have become cartels that restrict the number of companies and benefits (similar to Oil cartels that set production limits to keep supply and demand pretty equal). They are directly against anything that will reduce or dilute their monopoly. Their lobbyists are strong and influential. Look at who are backing the senators on our healthcare reform committee. Corruption is rampant. If you look at a "public option" such as what Switzerland and the Netherland has, whereby private insurance companies provide a menu of options to the public -- which are required to pick one and pay (sometimes subsidized for the poor), I think you will see something similiar (maybe?) to what you are talking about? See http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/2009/sep/09/matt-miller/analyst-says-netherlands-switzerland-achieve-unive//. I like politifact for obvious reasons -- it helps me to understand what is true and what is bull. Also, on the competition angle, see http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/2009/may/19/mitch-mcconnell/some-private-health-insurance-can-surviv/.

B: 3. It is human nature that if something is free your going to use it more than if you had to give up something to get it. People are not going to curb their doctor visits in healthcare is free. When I go the doctor now I am already waiting around 45 minutes to an hour to see the doctor. If we add in another 50 million people what will the lines be like? There are only so many doctors, surgeons, and nurses out there.

S: I see the logic behind your argument, but there are vast -- VAST -- numbers of Americans who cannot afford insurance OR healthcare (latest number I saw was 46 MILLION Americans without coverage). They wait until it is too late to seek help, and many times it is too late to fix a problem that could have been easily caught and resolved. If there is more demand for doctors, and the tort reforms on malpractice is actually approved into law, then there will be more people going into medical school, so the "law" of supply and demand will come into effect, because it will become a better paying job due to the supply of patients being there to support the doctor's salaries... at least that's my argument.

B: 4. Nationalizing healthcare will compromise patient confidentiality. This isn't a huge deal to me personally but I do find it a noteworthy consequence.

S: Hmmm... you might want to check those HIPAA laws and procedures. They won't go away. Will there be more access to patient records? Yes. Under the current plan, the e-tizing of our health system will occur, and information will be available to be transferred from one medical professional to another. Doctors’ offices, labs, and Insurance carriers would have to agree to standards so that the databases could be easily linked, apples to apples. I think that's a good thing.

When I was so sick in 2001-2004, I ended up having to carry my medical records around with me – literally, a file, a hard copy -- to ensure that all the specialists who were treating me could see all the test results and other Dr’s guesses to what was wrong with me. It was a nightmare trying to give them access by signing and waiting for the other doctor to send to the new doctor. Especially if you were leaving their practice! The doctors could remove any record that he felt could be used against him – even if it went doctor to doctor and not via hard copy by me.

Under the plan, HIPAA laws will still enforce the confidentiality of patient records, but will allow patients access to those records and patients can sign so that another professional can access. Easier than getting copies from one doctor to another, believe me.

B: 5. You cannot sue the federal government. No one can be held responsible if mistakes are made. There will be no legal liability.

S: I think this argument is based on the government actually hiring the medical professionals as employees, yes? That is not part of the plan that I can find so far, so if there is malpractice by a medical professional, the professional, not the government, are still liable (with exceptions of tort law).

B: These are just a few reasons why I'm against it. There are alternatives to this plan some things I have read are
-Allowing families and businesses to buy insurance across state lines to increase competition.
-Creating laws which protect people from being denied coverage based on a pre-existing condition
-Creating group plan choices to work together to get a group rate.
-Passing laws that end frivolous law suits that drive up costs.

S: As far as your alternatives, they actually sound like the Obama plan: http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/2009/mar/05/tom-coburn/obama-health-plan-does-not-include-government-run-/.

The only problem with passing tort laws to limit frivolous lawsuits, I think the term frivolous may be in the eye of the beholder. I know that J should have sued her Plastic Surgeon for the botched job he did with her reconstruction after the double mastectomy and radiation treatments she had. Basically, she is nothing but inflexible, painful scar tissue from her armpits to her new belly button. But, due to the tort laws we have here in GA, no lawyer will touch her. Because it was “reconstructive” and done by a Plastic Surgeon, no one will take on the case of it being malpractice. Even though she will probably be on massive amounts of pain killers for the rest of her life and spent over 6 months with open, oozing sores from MRSA while the plastic surgeon stonewalled her about pain and the wounds. He finally did go back in and try to fix the issues, but nothing can be done (at least according to him). No other plastic surgeon will consult with her because of the botched job – they don’t want to fix what he messed up, because in doing so, it would infer he messed up. Sad.

B:Healthcare costs are spiraling out of control. One thing I wish I could get accross to people is that the government relies on the people, not the other way around. Obama says this program will not increase deficit spending. This is technically true because our current system is costing 5% more every year and he compares his plan to projections that assume we do nothing about the current problem.

S: Hot off the press: healthcare bill ESTIMATED to be $829 billion: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/33214558/ns/politics-health_care_reform/

B: We cannot just keep printing money. If we continue down this path of trillions in deficit spending it will devalue the dollar to the point where it is worth virtually nothing. We cannot continue borrowing forever. Think about the long term consequences of printing all of this money. What are we going to do when we RUN OUT of money? It's not too far away if we continue to spend like this.

S:I don’t disagree with any of your statements in the last two paragraphs. It’s funny, I’ve spent most of the day (in between work) to research and respond to your questions. It was just (at 6:00 pm) that the Baucus Bill is ready to be voted on. Since the process of bringing a bill to the President for signature is onerous, it makes me wonder if we’ll see anything before the end of year break.

There’s a cool interactive graphic on msnbc.com that shows where we are and what is left to do:http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/32634644/ns/health-health_care

Finally, on the gold standard, your gold link. Here’s the thing with gold – every recession we have that causes the dollar to drop, everybody starts toting the gold standard. Google “which countries use gold as their standard?“, and you will see thousands of links (along with the one below) that talk about the highs and lows of gold standards. It is literally used as a weapon at times, to force a country's currency into the gutter. News releases like the one that you linked causes gold to go up on the world market, and suddenly we have folks (who have been speculating in gold) pouring gold into the market, causing the price to go down. Unfortunately, a lot of folks think this is the time to buy gold, and they will soon find their hard earned dollars go bye-bye until the next time a press release like this gets into the mainstream media.

Interestingly, when I researched this, it stated that all countries listed in the press release have stated they did NOT release that information and had no plans. Of course, it could all be propaganda, but I don’t want to delusion you on that score.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gold_standard

Again, thanks for the discussion. It is really refreshing, and I hope to see your counterpoints!

Compassionate Fiscal Conservative is not an Oxymoron

Everyone who knows me, knows I have voted democratic for most of my adult life, even though I am registered Republican. At 18, you tend to align with your parents; mine are Republican. The last Republican I voted for was Ronald Reagan. I have voted either independent or democratic overwhelmingly since 1980, although my ballot is a hodgepodge of parties. I either vote my conscience or, in disgust, vote the incumbents out by voting for fresh blood. Dad always said, if the country needed to go in a different direction, "Vote the b@stards out." He just meant vote the democratic incumbents out. LOL.

Whenever my Dad hears that I'm not voting in lockstep with him (e.g., Republican), he always says, "But you are a fiscal conservative!" This, finally, helps me answer that question of why, as a fiscal conservative, I vote overwhelmingly democratic. Because 1) the democrats tend to leave us with a much more balanced budget (and usually surpluses, as in the case of Clinton), and 2) they are much more compassionate than the Republicans. So, Dad, I guess I am a Compassionate Fiscal Conservative and because the Republicans can't seem to be able to tolerate such a creature, it is time for me to change my political registration to Democrat. Finally.

Andrew Sullivan over at the Daily Dish (one of my coffee break regular reads) hits the nail on the head here: http://andrewsullivan.theatlantic.com/the_daily_dish/2009/09/the-gop-vs-fiscal-conservatism.html

How well do you know your husband?

Here's a chance to see how well you really know your husband. Cut, paste and fill in the answers, then forward . . . shoot, you know what to do. The real challenge is to send it to your husband to see how right you really are.

1. He's sitting in front of the TV, what is on the screen? Military or Game channel

2. You're out to eat; what kind of dressing does he get on his salad? Ranch, and a ton of it.

3. What's one food he doesn't like? tomatoes or onions, it's a toss up.

4. You go out to eat and have a drink. What does he order? Sweet tea.

5. Where did he go to high school? Morrow

6. What size shoe does he wear? 14

7. If he was to collect anything, what would it be? Guns (he's a hunter)

8. What is his favorite type of sandwich? Tuna

9. What would this person eat every day if he could? Hot dogs

10. What is his favorite cereal? Lucky Charms

11. What would he never wear? Loafers

12. What is his favorite sports team? Georgia Bulldogs

13. Who did he vote for? McCain (we were a house divided)

14. Who is his best friend? Me

15. What is something you do that he wishes you wouldn't do? Crunch on ice (terrible habit!)

16. What is his heritage? native born Atlantan (rather rare, we're mostly transplants), then Scots-Irish.

17. You bake him a cake for his birthday; what kind of cake? Red Velvet

18. Did he play sports in high school? Nope

19. What could he spend hours doing? sitting at his computer, playing WoW or some other computer game

20. What is one unique talent he has? ... his strength? The man is built like an ox. He's also a pretty decent bowler.

Dear President Obama:

You have run an almost impeccable campaign. The only thing I would have done different (as IF I would ever have the intestinal fortitude to run for public office!) would be that when you heard of some dirt on McCain that wasn't true, especially if you found out that one of your supporters was spreading it, you would publicly denounce it AND put it on your website.

That's about it. I have loved how your campaign kept the news going out in text messages, emails, blogging, pictures, etc. I especially LOVE the flickr account that has been set up in your name that has the personal photos of election night (you can see here at the Obama account on Flickr). The picture of you and Michelle on the couch and your feet are up so that your shoes being worn down can be seen. Between the shot and the pensiveness of your face, it makes it my favorite; but all of them are wonderful. I sincerely hope that you can continue to use all these channels to keep talking to the American people as you lead our country back to dignity. Somewhere I read someone suggesting that you survey and poll the american people when major policy decisions have to be made. What a thought -- somewhere the American people can go to let you know what we think of your policies. It is almost mind boggling. Of course, you have been elected our president, and we trust you to rule fairly and abide by the constitution, but it's just the thought that ordinary people could go somewhere and tell you what they think... it's just mind boggling.

I think the thing I love the most about the pictures on Flickr is the comments from around the world, talking to you as if you actually read the comments. Part of me hopes that someone tells you or Michelle about it, so you can see the comments from ordinary people from literally around the world.

Every time I see a shot of you, Michelle, and your children, it just warms my heart and I automatically pray for you all. That's something, coming from me, who rarely prays. But I do pray for you, and our country. God bless the USA and God bless the Obama family!

If you haven't seen the videos of the will.i.am songs, you MUST go watch and listen:

Yes We Can
We are the Ones

Yes.We.Can!!!

Red and Yellow, Black and White

One of my earliest memories of a black person was sitting in the sunshine, braiding my blonde baby fine hair into corn-rows. It was 1964, I was 6 years old, and our totally white church was situated in the middle of a predominantly black neighborhood in Atlanta. My mother decided she would invite the folks living around our church to come worship with us. The lady that my Mom was visiting had a daughter my age. She was fascinated by my white blonde hair. I remember sitting in the sun, close to this little girl, and feeling her fingers braiding my hair against my scalp. We chattered about dolls and boys while my Mom visited with her mother. My memories of that day are as warm as the sun that lit the day.

My Mom was a little different than the other Moms. In the summer of 1964, my Mom would invite black people to our white church. It wasn’t appreciated. I remember my Mom getting tense and upset during church service, but I didn’t understand what was happening. After church, when everyone left, my Mom went to the pastor and said that Jesus Christ told all men and women to come to him, not just white people. I remember her apologizing to the black lady with tears running down her face, and I remember her being really sad on the way home.

When we got home, Mom gathered my brothers and I around her, and told us she wasn’t a trouble maker for bringing our black friends to church, that God had laid on her heart that she was to witness and bring people to her church. She sang to us “Jesus loves the little children,” and reminded us that Jesus loved all the children – red and yellow, black and white – and told us that there was no difference between us. I will never forget her saying that as human beings, our skin was like a space suit, and it was colored different colors, but underneath we were all the same. When we die, we leave the space suit behind, and we are all the same in God’s eyes.

We lived in a white neighborhood. We had no neighbors of different colors. My Mom’s friends in East Lake rarely came to visit us, unless they were working with my Mom, cleaning our house. As the years progressed, finally a black family moved onto our street. My Mom was thrilled, and invited them over for coffee. Our neighbors were not amused. My Mom would get the cold shoulder if she was lucky, otherwise, everyone felt compelled to ask her what on earth she was doing, allowing her children to play with the black children. Of course, my mom took this as an opportunity to explain that Jesus loved the little children, red and yellow, black and white… but the neighbors weren’t swayed.

In 7th grade, a black girl started attending my school. I felt sorry for her, because no one would eat with her or be friends with her, so I did, because Mom said there was no difference between us, that Jesus loved all the little children, red and yellow, black and white. As more black families moved in, more white families moved out. During the 70’s recession, my father decided to build a house in Fayette County; I was dismayed because there was nothing here but a Dairy Queen and a one screen movie theatre playing old (by Decatur’s standards) movies. My Mom was dismayed because there were mostly white faces to be found. Her black friends would rarely come down to Fayetteville, because the rumor was they had to be out of Fayette County by dark. Dad hired our friend Bo to do the concrete work on the new house, and every evening escorted him out of Fayette County. Dad came home to tell my mother how wrong it was for someone to be afraid of being somewhere due to the locals not being friendly. We moved into our new house the summer I graduated from high school. After being down here for a year, I did the opposite of most whites in the late 70’s – I fled back to the city, and enjoyed my diverse friendships.

In the late 80’s, I moved back with my husband and child due to the excellent schools and to be close to my family. The black friends I had were from work. I hired Tish for a temporary position right before I went out on maternity leave; she was brought in to help convert a mailing list over to a database. She was so skilled that I hired her permanent. She became one of my most dependable workers, who could do anything that I asked, and improved my work group with her knowledge and helpfulness. Along my path as a manager, I hired many more black people; not because they were black, but because they were the best people for the job. They were skilled and competent, and they did a wonderful job for me. I didn’t see this as an extension of what my mother did when I was a child, but I suspect that my outlook was definitely shaped by her example.

As I continued my journey through adulthood, Tish became a closer friend, and I had other friends who were minorities, too. I didn’t think about whether they were black or white, all I knew them as were as my friends. They came to my house on occasion, they were introduced to my family, and my parents always remarked on what wonderful people they were. My Dad was especially taken by Susan, who worked her way through Georgia Tech, and was as beautiful a woman that you had ever set eyes on. To this day, my Dad continues to ask about her, wanting to know how she is faring. That they were black was of no consequence to my parents; they still counted their Decatur friends as some of their closest.

Through my friendships, I came to understand why so many black people were angry still, why people of color were wary of white people, and how prejudice still was alive and well in Atlanta. I saw it happen, I saw how my friends faces would close and become hardened, sometimes even toward me, because of my color. I had to face some of my own prejudices that I hadn’t even realized I had, but I appreciated (although shamed) having my eyes opened to what I was doing in ignorance. These lessons were learned at the knee of not only African Americans, but Muslims, Indians, and a rather interesting Australian. Talking with people of diverse backgrounds, I learned so much about how we all work together on this Earth, and how we all needed to co-exist.

My friend Tish died suddenly two years ago. I miss her friendship; I often forget, and think to call her, only to realize that she’s no longer here with us. As this political season runs to the final vote, I feel her presence quite a bit, especially when faced with prejudice. In all my years, I haven’t seen the prejudice that I’m seeing this year in the political race. I feel the weight of all my friendships bearing down on me, especially when I ignore or try to rationalize prejudice that is happening in my presence.

To back up a bit, let me tell you a little more about my larger family. We are West Virginians; Hillbilly proud, as they say. We have our own strong opinions, you have your opinions, and if they are not the same as mine, well, you’re just wrong… My Dad’s family reunions are always a political rally, with half the brothers republican, the other half democrats, and the kids a mix of both and independents -- all strong willed, all pro-military (most are retired military). It got to the point that most of the women just stayed away from the men, because they would all get bull necked, red faced, and start each sentence with “Now, SON, you don’t know what you’re talking about…” The men just loved the debates, to the point that they would debate late into the night, sometimes shouting, pounding the table, and cries of “Now, Son!” ringing from wherever they were gathered, until hotel management would shoo them away to their rooms, and then the next day, all would be joking and joshing with each other, until after dinner, when the debates would begin again.

I tend to be more middle of the road, leaning more toward left when it comes to taking care of the sick, children and old people, leaning toward the right fiscally, all of which drives my Dad, uncles, brothers, and cousins crazy. They never know which way I am going to lean, but it exasperates all of them, democratic, republican and independents alike. I always vote my conscience, and it never makes anybody happy but me.

In 2004, I heard from my friends about a speech given at the Democratic Convention by a young man with a funny name: Barack Obama. I ended up catching small bits of it, and found his speech on the internet and read it. How powerful his speech was, and I was moved by this young man, who was raised with one foot on the white side and one foot on the black side. I thought he was fascinating and intelligent. I’ve read his books, followed his career, and talked about him with all my friends – whatever the color of their skin. My family? Not so much. If questioned, I would say I hadn’t decided yet, taking the chicken way out. When pressed, I would say it was between McCain and Obama… and ignored the flack from family. Actually, I would run from the flack.

Finally, this summer, when it was obvious McCain would be the Republican nominee, I made my choice publicly to my immediate family, knowing that the Republicans would howl (including my Dad and brothers). That I expected, but something happened this summer that has wrenched my soul. At the reunion, I stayed away from the men’s gathering. My favorite Uncle, a lifelong democrat who served in Vietnam, sidled up to me and said he heard I was voting for Obama, and I said, yep, aren’t you? No, he said, as he sidled away from me back to the men. I stood there, stunned. What? I walked into the house, still stunned, and came across another of my Uncles, another lifelong democrat. “Shurree, I can’t believe you’re voting for a N*****.” I stood there with my mouth hanging open for a good 30 seconds, just immobilized. Finally, I said “but… but… you’re a die-hard Democrat!” “I can’t do it,” he said, “I voted for Hillary, but I can’t vote for a black man.” Without thinking, I said “but his mother is white – he’s mixed!”

I still cannot believe that came out of my mouth. I walked away to a quiet part of the house, and just sat there for a few minutes, my face burning. I was ashamed. Ashamed of myself for not fighting back. Ashamed of my family. I felt ashamed, as if all my black friends were there, staring at me, wondering how I could just let it go? How could they be so prejudiced? Of course, if you asked them, they would say “even if he was white, I wouldn’t vote for him because of …” and they would say something about him not being a US citizen, being a secret Muslim, having pals who were domestic terrorists, something along the lines of which we have all seen or heard.

A few weeks ago, I stumbled across a Youtube video of a speech that made me ashamed of myself for not speaking out. You can watch it at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7QIGJTHdH50. As I watched, I felt Tish’s presence, and as I listened to Trumka, I felt moved to say something, to do something. I realized that only a white person can give these speeches. If anyone of any other color gave this speech, it would be reduced to sour grapes or playing the race card. The reason why Trumka’s speech was so electrifying is because he is white… and he was talking to white people. He wasn’t playing a race card, he was throwing the entire deck.

I have been forming this article in my mind for weeks. I have played with it, messed with it, and rewrote it. I’ve been appalled, sickened, and ashamed. I have spoken with the children, because I know they are merely parroting what they’ve heard. I try to use their natural empathy for others to let them see how it would feel to be talked to like that. But to their parents? No, for the most part, I have stood silent, or just said “You’re wrong… That’s been proved false… You need to check Politifact or Snopes…” and other idioms that kept me out of the fray. I’ve played it safe. I’ve played nice. I haven’t fought back. Until now.

So, Tish, this is for you. I hope you’re listening and watching over me.

To the Democrats who are voting for McCain: You may say you have black friends that you work with, go to school with, play softball with, eat dinner with, but you are failing the one test that would prove that you’re not prejudiced. You might as well tell your coworkers and friends to get to the colored section of the bus, restaurant, office, ball park, or church. You should turn your water hoses on them, clearing them of your neighborhood. Why not call them the names you call them in front of your children? Why not? That is what you are thinking. You don’t even take the time to read and learn about what Barack stands for. You know all you need to know by looking at his skin.

I can’t stand silent, because silence means that I agree with you. I do not. It is 2008. Your children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren either go or will go to school with children of different colors. Your words at home POISON your children, and make them look at their buddies with different skin color, and make them think that they are better than them. They hear your comments about the Asian-Indians-Hispanics-Blacks. Your children hear you say disparaging things about the minorities, whether it be that they are taking the back-breaking jobs that we don’t want, or taking over the Dairy Queen/fast food/dry cleaner/nail salon/convenience store, or getting educated and taking your job because they know more than you. They are working HARDER than you because it is expected, because anything less affirms the things that you say about them.

Red and Yellow, Black and White, they are precious in his sight… By the time my grandson is my age, he will be in the minority in this country. I hope to Jesus that because of the 2008 election, he will be treated with honor and integrity. I hope that the majority doesn’t treat him as we have treated them when they were the minority.

It is 2008, and a young man, from mixed parentage, who worked hard in school to get the scholarships and loans to help him work his way through college; who took a low paying job because he wanted to help his community, the citizens of his state, to be able to afford to give their children the basic necessities of life – this young man, who believes that every person in the United States of America deserves the unfettered right to the pursuit of happiness and the freedoms granted us by the US Constitution – this young man, I am proud to say, I will vote to be the 44th president of the United States.

God bless America and God bless Barack Obama.

Mz Palin - Dagity Bo!

I hope everyone is watching Katie Couric's interviews with Sarah Palin. Parts 3 & 4 will air tonight and tomorrow night. As I watched the interviews online, it reminded me of Suel Forrester on Saturday Night Live. Brilliantly played by Chris Kattan, whatever job Suel Forrester worked, he didn't make any sense (see link below). I think they should let him play Sarah Palin in drag, answering questions with nonsense. Seriously, every time I watch the Couric interviews, I get brain swirlies trying to keep track of what I *think* she said. It is truly painful.



http://video.aol.com/video-detail/suel-forrester-southern-lawyer/1342181784/?icid=VIDURVENT08

So I thought that maybe the transcripts would help, since I'm definitely more visual than aural. But even reading the transcripts doesn't help me!

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/09/24/eveningnews/main4476173.shtml?source=mostpop_story

Cat Herding isn't for sissies

I just finished a 80+ hour week finishing up ONE of my proposals. Today, I'll finish another, and Monday will start my third. I'm pooped. Whupped. I've got liquid sloshing between my ears. But with the help of lots of caffeine and an occasional Provigil, I'll get through the next week, and hope that I don't get another for awhile.

Cat herding isn't for those faint of heart. There's nothing like finishing up a proposal, sending it to print at Mimeo.com (GO MIMEO!), and discovering that your proposal has to go through customs and the guaranteed delivery time is 9:00 PM, and the proposal is due at 11:00 AM. That'll get your heart pumping, no matter how tired you are (I was functioning on 4 hours of sleep in a 48 hour "day." Hmmm... maybe functioning isn't the right term). So, after trying every which way possible to get it delivered before 11 am, gave up and went over to the dark side... Fedex-Kinkos. The positives: by printing in Canada, I don't have to deal with customs, and the store will deliver it, too. The negatives: it's Kinkos.

I guess Kinkos got tired of Mimeo kicking their butt, and finally got themselves a true print to Kinkos software. Too bad they didn't try to make it better than Mimeos. It's a very pale comparison - but, hey! I can print in Canada and bypass customs! So, I go to their site, select international, canada, toronto, ontario. Awesome! It only takes me an hour to upload all 830 pages, select tabs, and another 15 minutes cussing, trying to get a binder (gave up). I go to "proceed," and it dumps me back to the front door, and I lost all my documents. WHAT?!? So, off I go again, browsing, uploading, adding tabs, and hit "proceed," and can't change the delivery address to Canada. Seems it dumped me back to the US portal. $%^&$%^&$%^&$%^&!!! So I have the brilliant idea of calling the Toronto store (it's 24x7), and the guy who answers tells me to send it to KenXXXX@fedexkinkos.com, with directions on how to build the binder. I dutifully spell the email address back to him K-E-NXXXX@fedexkinkos.com. Yep, that's it. Spend 30 minutes painstakingly building out instructions, and hit send. Relief! It's 1:00 am, I'm exhausted, but it's gone. In the email, I asked him to call me when he received. After 30 minutes, I call him. Didn't receive, did I send it to KenXXXX@fedexkinkos.com? Give it another 15 minutes. Fifteen minutes later, they still haven't received it, give it another 5.

I go back to the website, determined to try their software again. This time it worked, got it uploaded and it's told to print 2 sided, 3 hole, color, got it all the way through, got the confirmation email, and it says to call them. So I do, and this time I'm talking to Ken, the project manager, who never received the email from me. Did you send it to CANXXXX? Can? As in Canada? Not Ken? ARGH!!!! Never mind, he got the order from the system, and they can do it and get it delivered Monday before 10 am. Awesome! I forwarded the confirmation email to my account manager in Toronto, and I finally go to bed after 3 am, utterly exhausted.

The office phone starts ringing at 11 am and I sleep right through it. When it rang at 12, I was in the shower. See the message light blinking when I walk past, so I call, expecting to hear that the account manager has done the quality check, paid the bill, and it will be delivered. Nope, he's gotten a call from Kinko's asking if we really want everything 2 sided. Ugh! I very painstaking verified every document to make sure it was 2 sided, 3 hole, and color last night before I clicked "submit". Call the Account Manager, and told him yes, that's what I ordered. An hour later, he calls back -- now they want to know if we want everything in color. AIEEEEEEEE!!!! That's what I ordered in the system!!! The Account Manager has it under control, he's going to go by Sunday and do a quality check of the binder. I'm done. I think.

So, lesson learned again...

1) Don't use KINKOS!
2) Make sure of Mimeo's delivery times to the customer BEFORE final run (GO MIMEO!!!).
3) Refill Provigil prescription.

Cat herding is definitely not for the faint of heart.

Iraq War

Those who know me, know that I've been against the war since I found out that we were lied to about the reasons we went to war. BUT... I've been truly conflicted about stating my objections because so many of my family are either military veterans or are serving/have served in this war. At the moment, none of my kin are other there, thank you, God!

I received an email this afternoon from one of my uncles who is a Vietnam veteran, and I believe he supports President Bush, and I know that he definitely supports the enlisted men and women of this country. The email had a link to this video on YouTube. His email states "No matter your political views, etc. this is a powerful 4-minute (or so) piece I think all, as Americans, can be proud of. This hit me pretty hard. If you feel the same after watching, please send to those you feel would be touched."

Well, Unca, it did. Lizzy Palmer, you did a great job. But as I watched, I wondered who would end up the the last enlisted person killed in this war. I hope it isn't anyone I know, because I'm afraid I couldn't stand it. My family has been so blessed in that our family members who served in the wars, past and present, have all come home to their families. All of them. We've never had any deaths due to war. I hope to God we never will.

For those of you who have had this happen to your family, from the bottom of my heart, Thank You and God bless your family.

As the video said, "they did their job." So, no matter what you feel about this war, remember: there may come a time when our military does have to protect us from imminent, legitimate threat. They don't ask whether it is right or wrong. They do their job, just like the fire fighters and police do -- they protect us, they save us, and they don't ask questions while they do it. They put their own lives at risk for us. Support them, and demand that our leaders don't squander this precious resource on anything but legitimate threats.

I hope they all get to come home soon.

Politics and interesting websites

Do you get tired of trying to figure out who is telling the truth and who is fudging during this political season? Check out the St. Petersburg Times' Politifact meter. If I can figure out how to do it, I'll put the meter on the website, but for now you can read about it here. I like it. I like it a lot. It's like a political Snopes!

Also, if you're wavering on who you REALLY want to vote for, check out this site to see who more closely matches your feelings on key issues. Unsurprisingly, my #1 pick according to the site is Obama. Edwards was a tie for second (no surprise), along with -- egads! -- Hillary. Uh, I don't think so.

Hey, can anyone explain to me how to get paragraph breaks to work in blogging? I don't like looking like I don't know how to break my thought and put it in a new paragraph -- I have run-on paragraphs!!! HELP!

Reason to Hope...

My grandson came to visit yesterday afternoon, and so my hope meter got replenished. He looks so much like his Mom, that it takes me back to when she was my baby, my Pookie, and how sweet and adorable she was, how much hope I had for her future. His temperment, however, is not like hers was/is. She was always such a happy baby, hardly ever cried, always content to be, whether she was being held or when she was in the floor exploring.

My grandson -- Chubawubba -- on the other hand, is more like his Aunt in temperment. My other daughter, while adorable and beautiful in her own right, was called Sweet Pickle. Everything set her off screaming. She was born screaming at the top of her lungs and didn't stop until she was 12 weeks old, and I went back -- gratefully! -- to work. Getting Sweet Pickle to laugh and be happy was the crowning accomplishment of any day. Luckily, my Mom has the patience of Job, and both Mom and my Dad adore babies -- cranky or not. I am blessed to have my parents living close by, and so my daughters spent their days at Mamaw & Papa's while I worked. So both of my daughters grew up with loving adoration beaming down on them every day. Luckily, my grandson gets to see his Papa and G-G every day, and their adoration continues to the next generation. Pookie decided not to go back to work after Chub was born, so he gets a quadruple dose of adoration (parents, grandparents, Aunt, great-aunts and uncles, and great-grandparents) on a regular basis.

So, yesterday my hope was lifted by getting to see and play with my grandson for a few hours. It's funny... when my daughters were young, I was so into saving the environment for them, recycling and conserving, and here comes my Chubawubba, and now I'm all focused on righting wrongs, recycling again (I'm proud to say that my recycle bags regularly out number my garbage bags on Pickup day), and wanting to make sure that our leadership changes to bring us back to the point where we can be proud of our country again.

For Chubawubba, who doesn't deserve to inherit this mess that we've made.

Honest and Straightforward?

I just finished reading Lou Dobb’s column today on cnn.com. The first sentence in the last paragraph, “And let's be honest and straightforward, as I hope our president and the candidates for president will be…” struck a nerve. I can’t remember the last time I believed anything the government said was “honest and straightforward.” For the past week, whenever I’ve seen a headline that talks about some government official saying WHATEVER, I immediately dismiss what they are saying as a lie or twisting the truth. We're not in a recession? Yeah, roight. Winning the war in Iraq? Snort!

Last week, the CIA said that Benzair Bhutto was killed by some tribal leader with ties to al-Qaeda. I thought, right… the government would say that since Musharraf is our puppet. I'm sure that someone in DC looked the other way while Musharraf's people buried evidence that they assassinated her. The same folks who manufactured evidence on WMD probably are working overtime to cook up some to keep Mush's fat out of the fire.

Will I ever be able to listen to our President or even the candidates and believe what they are saying? Have I become so jaded by this President and his administration that I will never again trust someone in power to tell me the unvarnished truth?

I hate that I am feeling this way... last night, my college student daughter pushed me to go onto Youtube and listen to Barack's speech at Ebenezer Church on Sunday. I was too busy last night working, but listened to it this morning. Man, that man can orate! I listened to him and I thought again that this was someone I could believe in, someone -- FINALLY! -- that I can vote for without qualms. I was really feeling hopeful, and then between projects, checked CNN.com. Learned Heath Ledger, who I really admired for his talent and his looks, had died at 28. Bam, down goes the hopeful meter. Then read Lou Dobb's column, BAM, down goes the hopeful meter.

I, and I think America, needs someone to believe in, someone that we can trust to tell us the truth, after two terms of deception and lies. Someone who will give us hope for tomorrow. I'm in need of some hope. Anybody got some to spare?